


Never Trust A Smiling Tony Stark

by Eden Marie Dawson (GodDamnedPlums)



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Blackmail, Does it count if he's currently a she?, Eventual Smut, Experimentation, F/M, Fluff, Fuck it it counts, Genderswap, Happy Ending, I promise, Light Angst, M/M, More tags to be added, Mpreg....kinda?, Tony's a little shit, confused!Steve Rogers, female!Bucky Barnes, stucky family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-06 14:38:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodDamnedPlums/pseuds/Eden%20Marie%20Dawson
Summary: If there was one thing that Bucky hated, it was seeing the pained look on Steve's face when he realized that he and Tony were fighting....again. So, when Tony comes to him one morning to request a favor, it is only the idea of seeing that kicked puppy look on his best friend's face again that pushes him into agreeing. He did say he'd at least try to get along...However, he quickly learns to regret his decision when the new drug Tony wanted to test out digs up a fantasy of Bucky's that he didn't even realize he had. One that has most of his fellow team mates trying to hide amused grins (except for Tony, who is howling like a damned hyena), and one that has left Steve in a (pleasurable) yet confused state.One that has left Bucky Barnes in possession of a brand spanking new female body.He's gonna kill Tony for this.





	1. Damn living arrangements...

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing anything for my OTP and my first time diving head first into the MCU fandom... be nice? -Hides behind Cap's shield-
> 
> *Unbeta'd, all mistakes are my own*

Bucky Barnes was, admittedly, not a morning person in the slightest. His mood further soured when he stumbled into the communal kitchen in hopes of finding a decent cup of coffee, only to find the ever-so-annoying Tony Stark standing between him and sweet, piping hot salvation. He forced a smile onto his face, though he was pretty sure he ended up looking more psychotic than anything when he only managed to pull off a grimace at best, and lightly pushed the millionaire playboy out of the way so that he could get to the coffee pot. He was staying there at the Avengers compound at the request of Steve, who he could never seem to say no to, but getting along with some of the other inhabitants (I.E., Sam and Tony) was proving to be tiresome, at best.

Tony didn’t seem to be phased in the slightest by Bucky’s literal brush off. He slid back along the length of the counter until he was all but pressed up against the former Winter Soldier’s hip. He grinned when he noticed the slight tick in his jaw. “I have a favor to ask you, Barnes.”

“I don’t do favors, Stark. Least of not for you.” Even he knew how dangerous it was to owe Tony Stark anything, so it was best not to deal with favors of any kind.

“You’ll do this one. After all, you wouldn’t want to risk Rogers getting that puppy-dog look on his face because we’ve been fighting yet again, would you?”

God damn it. Tony knew that the one way to ensure that he did anything his twisted little mind could come up with was to bring up the damn near irresistible look that Steve would adapt whenever he discovered that his two best friends were fighting. It was like someone kicked a drowning puppy and it just made Bucky want to wrap him up in a blanket and growl at anyone that dared come near them.

Sighing, he slowly set his coffee cup down on the counter. He hadn’t even taken a sip of the precious life-bearing liquid before turning his gaze toward Stark. He was surprised he was able to keep his voice relatively calm when he bit out the words “spill it, then”.

“I just need a volunteer, namely you since your chemical makeup will react differently to the substance, to test out this new drug that can be used in the case of interrogations.”

“...I am not your god damned lab rat, Stark!” Okay, maybe that was spoken a little louder than he’d intended. He flinched, waiting a heartbeat to see if anyone else had heard his little outburst. When no one else joined them in the kitchen, he sighed. “Why not talk to Wanda or Vision?”

“Well, I don’t want to subject Wanda to anymore tests than she’s already had to be. Vision isn’t an option because his body would be immune to the substance.” He raised both brows. “I suppose I could ask Steven…”

“No.” He snapped, the ceramic mug cracking in his grip. He sighed, seeing more than feeling the hot coffee spill out over his metal fingertips and onto the white tile of the kitchen counter. He grabbed the first available towel he found and started to mop it up. “What exactly is this substance supposed to do?” 

Tony smirked, though he quickly wiped it from his face when he caught Bucky’s stony glare. He cleared his throat. “Well, it’s an injection that, used properly, can act as sort of a truth serum. It takes the deepest, darkest desires of the one injected and manifests them into tangible form. Essentially, giving them what they’ve always wanted.” When Bucky just stared at him, he grinned and continued. “Meaning, once we find out said desire or secret, we can use it against them to get the information that we require…by threatening to take it away again. Permanently.”

“You are one sick fucker, you know that?” He tossed the towel into a small bin by the countertop to be collected later. Tony just grinned as if to say “I know~”

“So, you’re thinking that by using me as a test subject,” he grits his teeth when he said those two words, “you’ll get a better idea of how the drug will affect non-enhanced humans?”

“Essentially, yes. What, worried that some of your deepest, darkest fantasies will come to light and I’ll forever have leverage over you?”

“I’ve got nothing to hide, Stark.”

“Damn. Oh, well. Are you going to do it?”

He wanted so much to throw the remaining pieces of the ceramic mug right into Tony’s face, but he bit the inside of his cheek instead and brushed said pieces into the garbage can. What did he have to lose?

“Fine.”

~~~~~~

As it turned out… he had quite a lot to lose.

Tony lead him into his lab, only after Bucky had managed to ingest at least one cup of coffee, and motioned for him to settle himself into any of the available chairs that were strewn across the lab. Bucky pointedly avoided the tables, or anything that involved straps, and settled in Tony’s office chair, with his bare feet kicked up onto his desk. His satisfied smirk only grew when he noticed Tony’s slight twitch at the sight. “You said anywhere,” he teased.

“I didn’t technically say anything,” he retorted before heading back towards him, a fabric case tucked underneath one arm. He rolled a stool over to sit in front of Bucky, knocking his legs off his desk in the process. He ignored his huff of annoyance and extended a hand. “Arm.” When Bucky gave him both a shit-eating grin and his metal arm, Tony nailed him with his best “are you serious” look, which only made the former soldier snicker before holding out his flesh arm instead.

“Now you might feel a little prick….”

“Trying to get me into bed, Stark? OW!” he yelped, Tony having unceremoniously shoved the needle into his arm for his retort about the size of his dick. He rubbed at the sore spot when the needle was removed, a pout forming on his lips. “Asshole…”

“Yep.” He didn’t even try to deny it. “You might feel a bit groggy, but that’s normal. It should take approximately fifteen minutes for the drug to enter its full effect.”

Fifteen minutes. He could handle fifteen minutes of just sitting there in Stark’s lab. After all, he was almost certain that he didn’t have any kind of hidden desires or fantasies that the drug could possibly ‘manifest’.

Oh, how wrong he had been…

After the five-minute marker, Bucky could feel his head starting to get a little foggy. It was hard to think, and honestly, it felt like the air around him had grown a little thinner, too. He shook his head, using his thumb and forefinger to rub the bridge of his nose. He was only acutely aware of Stark watching him from the corner, taking notes on some sort of high tech notebook…thing that Bucky didn’t have the energy or the capability to try to understand at the moment. Around the nine-minute mark, his vision started to blur around the edges. He leaned forward, pressing his forearms on his knees, head hanging down between them. This proved to be a bad move, for at precisely the twelve-minute mark, he felt his body falling forward, hurtling toward the tile floor as everything went black around him.

“Barnes? Barnes are you with us?” It was a familiar voice that brought him back to reality…a feminine voice. Natasha. He’d recognize her voice anywhere… but why was there a strange tinge to the tone of it? Almost as if…she was amused? That was never good. Groaning, he lifted his hand to his head. 

“Who the hell is ‘us’?” And why did his voice sound so high pitched? Granted, it wasn’t a considerable change, but enough of one for him to take notice. He felt like he’d been hit by a semi-truck, backed over, and drug twenty miles.

“Shut it, Tony.” There was another voice…male this time. Banner? What was Banner doing here? For that matter, why was Natasha here? Slowly, he forced himself to open blue-grey eyes to focus on the image of his redheaded friend, who was looming over him and looking as if she were trying to hold back a very amused smile, disguised by concerned eyes. Somewhere in the background he could hear Tony howling with laughter and Bruce trying, and by the sound of it, failing, to silence him.

“What happened to me?”

“Well, it seems that the drug that Tony injected you with had the…desired…effect….”

“I’ll say so!” Tony howled again, then coughed when Bruce elbowed him—hard.

She glared toward the men, her gaze softening once more when she returned it to Bucky. “Because your desire was a bit more… involved… it required you to be unconscious before it could be manifested.”

“Nat, just spill it. What the fuck happened to me?” He was growing more irritated by the second.

Instead of responding, verbally, she turned her back to him, pulling over the full-length mirror that Bruce had supplied for her. “I think it’d be best if you saw for yourself, Buck.”

Confused as ever, Bucky turned his attention from his friend to the mirror that was suddenly placed in front of him. His…or rather, her… eyes widened as he took in the full expanse of the change. His hair was longer, almost falling to his waist, while his body had softened, still maintaining a sense of muscular form but with much more curve to it. He stood slowly, his height having shortened—though he still stood taller than Natasha, but not by much—and his waist dipping in to give him an almost hourglass like shape. He lifted his hands, sliding them over the swell of his now rounded ass, before traveling up and shamelessly cupping the newfound breasts. Natasha looked amused, Bruce looking away with pink cheeks when he dropped one hand to grope at his crotch, eyes widening further still when he found that his dick was, in fact, currently M.I.A.

Hearing Tony laughing behind him like some kind of drugged up hyena, however, caused his eyes to narrow just seconds before he launched himself at him. “You son of a bitch!”

Even he had to admit, even though he still had his metal arm, his threat was less than effective as Tony kept laughing, despite Bucky trying to choke the life out of him as he straddled him right there on the lab floor.


	2. Shut up, Steve.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve flies off the handle and Natasha comforts Bucky before he(she) can say something stupid him(her)self.

“What is going on in here?”

Bucky froze, his…her…fuck, this was going to take some getting used to…fingers still poised around Tony’s neck, desperate to keep squeezing until she could completely cut off his air if only to prevent him from laughing anymore. She didn’t turn around, too afraid to see the look of shock, disappointment or disgust—possibly a mixture of all three—on her best friend’s face.

“Uh…Tony, if you wanted to invite a woman back to the compound, wouldn’t you feel more…uh…comfortable engaging in... those kind of things…in private?”

Now even Natasha was laughing, which caused Bucky to bristle even further. He thought she was some random broad Stark had brought back to the compound to bone. One of those Iron Man groupies he always has hanging about him. The ones Pepper liked to toss out like yesterday’s garbage.

She didn’t know why that stung so much, but it caused her chest to tighten, while her fingers relaxed against Tony’s throat. This gave the playboy genius enough leverage to grab her by the waist and effortlessly lift her off him, setting her on her feet by the table. Despite the new female form, judging by the vicious marks on his neck, Bucky still retained a lot of her former strength. Luckily for Tony, not all of it.

“I’m not banging anyone in the lab, Rogers, so you can hop down off your moral horse and come over here to say hey to the new, the improved, Bucky Bar—” he was cut off when Bucky elbowed him hard in the throat. Okay. Now that one hurt.

“Then what is going—”

“...Hey Steve,” Bucky murmured as she finally turned around. Most of her face, and the redness covering her cheeks, was hidden by the curtain of long, dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders. While her shoulders remained back, trying to hold some sort of dignity about her, she still couldn’t force herself to meet the gaze of the completely gob smacked captain before her.

“Buck? What…what’s going on?” His voice sounded strained, almost pained, and it made her flinch. 

“Stark insisted that if I engaged in experimentation that it would ensure that you saw that we were actively trying to get along.”

“Tony!” Steve snapped, causing the still coughing man to hold up both hands as if playing innocent. “He agreed!” he rasped out.

“That’s not the point! You blackmailed him just to get someone to test out your new toy and look what you’ve done to him!” He flung his arm out, pointing at Bucky, who visibly cringed. Steve didn’t notice Bruce frowning, or the way that Natasha moved toward Bucky. “You completely took advantage of him! You know he’s not—”

“That’s enough, Steve.” Natasha spoke up before he could go any farther with his statement. Bucky looked like she’d been kicked hard in the stomach, but she would be damned if she showed even an ounce of emotion in this moment. Steve already, apparently, still viewed her as ‘broken’. She wouldn’t prove him right.

“But…” When he turned to her, ready to defend his argument, he caught the tell-tale signs of someone fighting back tears as he looked at the softer but still familiar features of his best friend. He’d seen those same signs when Bucky had sworn he wasn’t leaving without him. “Oh, Buck, I…”

“I’m going to the gym.” She cut him off before he could say another word. She couldn’t look at him another moment, even just glances seemed to cut right through to her core. Natasha nailed each of the men—save for Bruce—with a deadly look before she followed Bucky out of the lab.

“What… the hell did you do, Rogers?” Tony stood there, staring at the space where Bucky and Natasha once stood. “You systematically managed to piss off the Winter Soldier with just a few words.”

“Yeah…” He sighed, almost absently as his gaze was also locked on the recently vacated area of the lab. “Seems so…”

~~~~  
“Stupid… son of a… god damned…” Each curse was punctuated with a particularly hard punch to the sandbag, the final “fuck!” that she yelled sending the bag sprawling across the gym floor. She sighed, running her hand through her sweat-damp hair. She knew Natasha was standing by the wall, watching her, but she had done her best to ignore her. It wasn’t until she was reaching for the fourth sandbag to hang it on the hook that the Widow made her move. She slid her fingers over the smooth skin of Bucky’s forearm, tugging her away from the punching bag and toward the showers, completely ignoring the brunette’s whine of protest.

“I wasn’t finished…”

“Yes you were. You’re upset and if you keep t it, you’re going to blow through the gym’s entire stash of punching bags before the day’s through. You’re going to get in there, take a nice, hot shower, and then you and I are going to go get coffee and get you something more fitting to dress in.” She waved haphazardly to the clothing that she had been forced to tie up around her midsection due to the extra room in them at the moment. “You can wear something of mine in the meantime.”

“I’m still taller than you, Nat…”

She simply raised an eyebrow, suddenly dropping low and swinging her leg out, swiping Bucky’s out from under her. When she was on her back, she leaned over her, giving a small smirk. “And I can still put you on your ass, Barnes. Now do as I said.”

“Sir, yes sir.” She saluted her friend, dodging the slap she sent her way before hurrying off to the shower. Maybe the hot water would give her time to think about how the hell this happened and, more importantly, why.

~~ 

“…Just drop it, Romanov…” She muttered through clenched teeth, trying to maintain a pleasant demeanor while they were out in public. Natasha had braided her hair to keep it out of her face and to get rid of that “Girl-from-the-Ring” look, and finally managed to wrestle her into a pair of her jeans—hey, she couldn’t help it if her hips didn’t lie—and one of Steve’s button-down shirts. The only comforting factor about the outfit was that the shirt still faintly smelled of Steve’s cologne. 

“But there has to be a reason why the drug affected you in this way, Buck. The drug specifically is designed to manifest the deepest, most hidden desires or fantasies of the person injected with it.” She pursed her lips behind her travel mug, carefully choosing her next words. “Is this…gender dysphoria?”

Bucky stared at her like she’d suddenly grown three more heads. “No! Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I was quite happy with my dick, thank you!”

Natasha bit into her lower lip, trying to smother her laughter as several people whirled around to stare at them at her sudden outburst. She grumbled something in Russian that made Natasha snort, before sliding down into her seat, wishing a hole would open up and swallow her whole. She already got enough shit for leaving the compound—even after being officially pardoned of all crimes—just because of her damn metal arm. She didn’t particularly like being in the limelight anymore.

“It’s…It’s not like that, Nat. I didn’t even know I had any kind of fantasy or desire for this thing to manifest. I mean, I always had this…stupid little dream since I was younger and before I entered the war. But there’s no fucking way that the drug could’ve taken that…taken that literally…”

She leaned forward, setting her mug down as those impossibly deep eyes seemed to stare holes into her very soul. She sucked in a deep breath, letting it out even slower. “I…”

“Can I get you ladies anything else?” A chipper waitress appeared at the table before Bucky could say anything. In a way, she was glad for the distraction. Natasha, however, was not. She sent a steely glare toward the woman before offering her the sweetest, almost dangerous smile she had in her repertoire. “Just the check.”

Bucky had to fight not to snort as the waitress hurried away, looking shaken enough to have damn near pissed herself if she hadn’t already. “You really should learn to be nice, Natasha.”

“Nice doesn’t keep my ass out of trouble.” She replied coolly, ignoring how strange that it sounded. When the waitress brought back the check, she left a decent sized tip, courtesy of Tony, of course, before grabbing her mug and Bucky’s hand, tugging her away from the coffee shop. Bucky had just enough time to grab Natasha’s untouched banana nut muffin to take with her before she was tugged away.

The topic wasn’t brought up again until they were both standing in the fitting room of a department store, a ridiculous amount of clothing stacked neatly in a pile on the bench across from the wall that held the mirror. She tried to avoid it at all costs by making cracks about her weight, but Natasha was not amused, nor seemingly in the mood for jokes.

“It’s nothing big, Nat. Just… Steve used to talk all the time about how he wanted a family one day, but he figured that with his size and medical problems that he’d never find a woman to settle down with. I joked that if it were possible, I’d give him a family.”

Natasha’s eyes were almost comically wide as she stared at Bucky’s reflection in the mirror. Bucky squirmed slightly under the intense gaze of her friend. “Okay, seriously, stop staring at me like that. It’s like waiting for a pit viper to attack... Though I’m pretty sure I’d rather tangle with the viper.”

“You wanted to give Steve a family? Buck… I think on some level those thoughts were real for you. They weren’t just a joke passed between two best friends. I can tell, you’ve loved him for longer than any of us have known either of you. Maybe the drug caught on to those thoughts and latched on because they were the only ones that you’ve kept hidden.”

Bucky stared down at her hands, twisting the fabric of an infinity scarf around in her hands, needing something to do to keep herself busy. It couldn’t be true. Sure, Natasha was right, she really loved Steve. It wasn’t like those feelings were reciprocated or anything, but she had always held out hope that maybe since times had changed, they could finally be open about their relationship….or, in her case, open about her desire to have one with him. Then she’d watched him making out with Sharon Carter and felt those hopes deflated like air being let out of a balloon. But if this were true, then that meant that the only way that she would return to her normal, male body, was to fulfill the desire or fantasy. And she was pretty damn certain that Steven Grant Rogers didn’t want to settle down and have a family, and especially not with the Winter fucking Soldier. She brushed both hands through her hair, dislodging it haphazardly from the braid Natasha had worked it into.

“This fucking sucks…”


	3. Confessions of a one, Bucky Barnes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets the surprise of his life, and Bucky finally feels like she can begin hers.

Back at the Avengers compound, Steve was hunched over the island in the communal kitchen, nursing what looked to be a glass of Jack Daniels. He knew that the alcohol would have little to no effect on him thanks to the super soldier serum, but he couldn’t help but want to test that theory and see if it were possible at all to chase down the memory of how pain-filled his best friend’s eyes had been when he watched him…her…leave with Natasha. He sighed, running one hand down over his face as he exhaled. How the hell was he going to fix this one? Especially when he wasn’t even sure what it was that he had said that had pushed Bucky so far over the edge?

“You know, I have much cheaper options if you want to waste my alcohol trying to create a buzz.” Tony’s voice cut through the stale air in the kitchen like a hot knife through butter. It set Steve’s nerves on edge, but it wouldn’t do to keep being angry with him for something that was clearly an accident. Or so he believed it to be.

Steve just tipped the bottle over, pouring the last of the whiskey into his glass before letting the bottle drop into the trash bin beside him. Judging by the sound of breaking glass, Tony surmised that he’d gone through quite a few bottles. “Come on, Rogers… Barnes will come around. Probably in a pretty little number too…” He held up both hands when Steve sent him a glare as cold as the ice he was thawed from. “Sorry, bad taste. What’s really bugging you?”

Steve let out a long sigh as he dropped his forearms to the counter where he was leaning. “You said that the serum you created was meant to give the one injected their deepest desire. So… are you saying that deep down, Bucky wanted to be a woman?”

Tony had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. “Ah…no, I don’t think that Barnes is harboring any skirt-tail fetishes. It’d be my best guess that his desire was something that only by being female that he could achieve.”  
“...Well, that would leave getting pregnant, wouldn’t it? Isn’t that the only thing that women can do that we can’t?”

“There’s also the inability to shut up when someone says your name.” Bucky’s voice drifted from the doorway. She was still standing close to Natasha, looking more skittish than a humming bird caught in a house of mirrors. Steve hated that she couldn’t look him in the eye, that there was a flicker of fear in those blue-grey eyes.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll give you that…” He rubbed the back of his head as he straightened up. “You doing alright, Buck? I mean… with...everything?” He waved a hand up and down, gesturing to her form.

“You mean am I adjusting to being a woman, or am I adjusting to having a dick for a best friend?”

He flinched and for a moment, Bucky felt a small smidgen of satisfaction. It was fleeting, however, when she noticed the wounded look on his face. She rolled her eyes so hard in that next moment that she could’ve sworn she saw Jesus. “Fine, Steve. Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

He seemed to brighten almost instantly, and she had to bite her cheek to keep from smiling. As much as he had pissed her off – and hurt her, honestly – he was still the same ol’ Steve that she had fallen in love with back before the war. “Come on, you big doof. I’d like to do this in private, without the unnecessary commentary involved.” She shot a semi-meaningful glare at Tony, who was pouting at the thought of being excluded.

“And no listening in, either. I’ll find out and I will turn your balls into earrings.”

Both Tony and Steve visibly flinched with the image, but Natasha just smirked. She stepped to the side, squeezing Bucky’s shoulder, a silent communication passing between them to let her know that she wouldn’t be far if she needed her. Bucky smiled and patted her shoulder before leading Steve down the hall, naturally heading toward her quarters. She didn’t have to look back to know that Steve was following, but if she had, she would notice that he was having a hard time not staring at her ass as she walked.

“Alright, Rogers. You want to talk, lets talk.” She slipped out of her coat, laying it across the desk chair before flopping backwards onto her bed. It took her a moment to realize why Steve had not only frozen in the doorway, but was making a point to look anywhere but at her. His cheeks were bright red, which would’ve been cute if she hadn’t still been irritated with him. “Steve?”

“Uh… You’re…” He motioned to the way she was laying. A quick glance down revealed that she was showing off quite a bit of leg. She actually scoffed as she sat up, crossing her right leg effortlessly over the left. “You’re so old fashioned.”

“I am not! I just…I just think you should be respectful of a lady’s privacy….”

“But I’m not a lady, Steve. At least not truthfully.”

“But you are until Tony can figure out how to fix you.”

“Fix me? I’m not fucking broken, Steve!”

“Language, Buck…” Steve sighed, and Bucky threw her pillow at his head. “Shove off with that crap, Rogers. You have one of the filthiest mouths on the planet and I think if you get going well enough you could rival Clint in the bad language department.”

Steve’s face was so red even his ears lit up like a Christmas tree. He picked up Bucky’s pillow, turning it over in his hands and fluffing it, if only to have something to do with his hands.

“…Did you want to get pregnant, Buck?” Best to just get it out in the open. Rip it off like a band-aid and expose the wound to open air. Bucky was silent for a long while, and Steve began to twist the pillow as his nerves began to get the better of him. He was just about to try and retract his question and play it off as a joke when Bucky spoke up.

“Yes,” she sighed softly. “Well… not exactly. I wanted to be able to have a family. And the person that I wanted to have a family with, well, lets just say that it was impossible to achieve.”

“…Why is that?” Slowly, Steve walked over to the bed and took a seat beside her. Close. Too close; their knees were touching and it made her heartbeat quicken. She prayed that he couldn’t hear it as loud as she could.

“Because admitting my love to this person would have gotten us both either beaten, killed, or thrown in jail if anyone had ever found out. That, and they were already falling for someone else by the time that I got up the nerve to even suggest something might come between us.”

“You were in love with a man then…” That was the only reason that he could think of that would make Bucky, one of the most open and confident people he’d ever known, hesitate about asking anyone out. He snapped his fingers as his eyes widened. “That’s it! You were in love with a man, and you wanted to have a family with this man, but you couldn’t do so because you were both men. So. The serum changed your body into a female one so that you would be able to reproduce with the man that you love!” He seemed to triumphant about figuring it out that Bucky wanted to laugh. Instead, she was nearing the verge of tears again, not knowing how Steve would react when he found out just who it was she had been, and continued to be, in love with.

“…But that means they’d have to be about a hundred years old now…”

Bucky tried to swallow but her throat felt raw, practically shredded by the words she was desperately trying to choke back. Steve slowly turned toward her, those impossibly blue eyes wide with a mixture of emotions that she couldn’t quite place.

“…Is… Is it me, Buck? Am I the one that you’re… you’re in love with…?”

When she didn’t respond verbally, just lowered her head and gave a slow, almost terrified nod, Steve’s breath caught in his chest. Here she was, having lived through the war, somehow surviving a fall that should have been deadly, and suffered through years of abuse and torture from Hydra, but she was sitting there, scared to death that Steve was going to lash out at her for her feelings for him. There was a part of him that hated himself for acting in such a manner that would lead her to feeling this way.

Slowly, he sank down to his knees in front of her. He slid his hands up the length of her arms, then up the smooth column of her neck before he cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs brushing over the apples of her cheeks. He waited until she flicked a nervous gaze up to him before he leaned in and let his lips brush slowly, softly, against her own. To say that her world stopped spinning in that moment would’ve been the understatement of the century.

“S-Steve…?” Her voice cracked as she spoke his name, her brow creased and her own mix of raw emotions burning through her gaze.

“I’m with ya til the end of the line, Buck.” He smiled at her, and when she finally let the tears fall that she’d been holding back, they weren’t ones of sadness. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her head lowering so that she could bury her face against his shoulder. They were tears of joy.

“You know you gotta get Barnes preggers before she’ll turn back to her guy form, right Rogers?” Tony’s voice cut through the static on the intercom, his gleeful tone smothered only by his laughter as Natasha ran after him. Bucky sighed, still gripping Steve’s shirt tight in her hand.

“As annoying as Tony is,” Steve chuckled as he tipped her chin up with two fingers. “He is right.”

Bucky’s cheeks went redder than the star stamped onto his metal arm.


	4. Hey, Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve's a little jealous of the close friendship that Bucky and Clint have settled into and... lets just say he doesn't handle it well.

If one thought that Bucky would have been happy knowing that Steve not only didn’t hate her for the feelings that she kept buried deep inside, but that he reciprocated them as well, well… you’d only be half right. Oh, she was elated that she was finally able to get started on the relationship that she had been, quite literally, dreaming about for years… only, she hadn’t actually been able to do anything to move them forward. Every single time that she got close to Steve, he would get flustered and make some excuse to put a little distance between them. At first, she had thought he was playing coy, a playful change from the seemingly dominant personality that had shown itself in her quarters…three weeks ago. But, now, she was starting to develop a bit of a complex. Was there something wrong with her? Did she smell bad? Was he changing his mind? That last thought always made her chest tighten, so she tried not to let those thoughts linger.

It was an unbearably hot Tuesday morning, and Bucky was currently sitting at the bar in the kitchen, dressed in a tank top and short skirt that Natasha had bought for her. Her legs were crossed, one bare foot swinging idly back and forth as she flipped through a magazine someone had left on the counter. Since it was the latest issue of Cosmopolitan, she assumed that the magazine belonged to their youngest team member, Wanda. 

“Ten ways to make sure you go first….” She raised an eyebrow. “Go first where?” She located the page and settled back, grey-blue eyes scanning the pages. “…Oh. I wonder if these really work…”

“Only one way to find out, Becky.” Clint’s voice cut through the otherwise silent air, making Bucky roll her eyes. He had taken to calling her by the feminine name, claiming that her usual name just didn’t fit her. She had countered with “kind of like how your pants aren’t fitting you”, much to the howling amusement of the rest of the team. Even Vision had cracked a smile. Clint had a hard time suppressing his grin, even as he shoved yet another cookie into his mouth—the likely culprit behind his suddenly snug jeans. 

“What do you want this morning, Barton? Don’t you and Thor have a sparring match scheduled for today?” She returned her gaze to the magazine, and the article that had gone on to describing which specific positions were best for G-spot simulation. She made a mental note to ask Natasha more about what this “G-Spot” thing was.

“Exactly. That’s why I need to make sure I have enough energy before I head in there today.” He stopped by her and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She hadn’t even realized that it had fallen from the clip she’d pinned the rest of it back with. “You eaten yet?”

“You know as well as I that Tony has barred me from cooking in his kitchen.”

“Well… when you shot the toaster…”

“It surprised me!” She huffed.

Clint just laughed. “It’s alright Beck, I’ll fix you something. Whatcha want?”

“Whatever you’re having is fine.” Even in her female body she could still pack away the calories. Thankfully she’d retained her metabolism. She caught Clint nodding out of the corner of her eye and went back to reading while he pulled out the ingredients for what looked to be pancakes and omelets. 

“You make any progress with Rogers yet?” He asked after a comfortable ten minutes of silence had passed. Well, they had been comfortable for her at least. She casually flicked to the next article in the magazine before replying.

“Nope.” She popped the ‘p’, which made Clint chuckle.  
“He’s still avoiding you like the plague, huh?”

Now that made her drop her magazine to the counter. “Yes, Barton, because that is exactly what one wants to hear when it comes to discussing why her supposed boyfriend is avoiding her. She reminds him of a deadly disease.”

Clint just chuckled, but when he noticed the pout on her face, he turned the heat down to low on the stove so nothing would burn and came over to her. He wound his arms around her from behind, chin resting on her shoulder. It was the only hug that she couldn’t squirm her way out of and he knew it. He also knew she secretly enjoyed this weird friendship that they had developed over her time being in the Avenger’s compound. “Come on, sugar. You know I think he’s just working through some personal issues concerning this whole thing. I doubt it’s got anything to do with you.”

She sighed and let her head tip back to rest against his. “I wish that I knew that for certain. I even tried to take his hand in the elevator and he jumped like I’d electrocuted him.”

“Have you tried cornering him? I mean, that always worked when I needed to talk to Nat.”

She leveled him with a gaze and he laughed. “Yeah, yeah, usually end up needing quite a few bandages after cornering her… but I doubt Steve would be as feisty.”

“Steve would have to stand still long enough for me to corner him.” She sighed and patted his arm. “Food’s burning.”

He blinked, turned toward the stove, and cursed under his breath as he realized she was right. She chuckled as he rushed off to try and save their breakfast, not noticing the presence looming in the doorway.

“You two have gotten close…”

She snapped her head up so quickly that she could hear the sound of her neck cracking echoing through the kitchen. “Steve, how long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough.” He grumbled as he made his way toward the coffee pot. He wore low-slung black drawstring pants and a white cotton t-shirt. Like her, he was also barefoot. She swiveled around on the barstool to face him, a frown setting in on her lips. 

“Are you okay?” She set her magazine down when he didn’t answer right away and slipped down off the barstool to pad her way over to him. She reached for his arm, but he jerked it out of her reach. Hurt flashed in her eyes but she slowly lowered her hand. “Are you mad at me or something?”

“I’m going for a run.” He took his travel mug of coffee with him and turned on his heel to leave. Bucky didn’t have it in her to leave him alone, especially when it seemed like something was bothering him, so she reached out for his arm again. This time when he jerked his arm away, he was close enough that the back of his hand connected with her cheek.

Silence hung so thick in the air that you could cut it with a knife in that moment. Steve looked horrified, his grip on the travel mug so tight that the plastic groaned in protest. Bucky had yet to lift her head, eyes still frozen open wide in shock that she’d been struck. Clint, on the other hand, had moved between the two of them. “I think you should go take your run, Rogers.”

“I…uh… Buck, listen…”

“Go!” He snapped, the ferocity in his tone actually causing Steve to jump slightly. He cast one more look at Bucky, muttering a soft apology to her before he left with his head down. No matter which way he turned, he always seemed to be mucking things up with her.

When Steve was gone, Clint turned toward Bucky and lifted her chin. He frowned, noticing the slight brownish-green tint that was forming above her right cheekbone. However, even more so than the bruise that was forming, what disturbed him the most is the way that Bucky’s lower lip was quivering. He sighed and braced a hand on the back of her head, pulling her into his arms so that her head could rest on his shoulder. “I’ll talk to him, sugar. I’ll figure out what’s gotten his star-spangled panties in a twist.”

His words succeeded in making her smile, and with a small sniffle, she pulled back to mutter “food’s burning” once more. This time when he cursed, she couldn’t help but smile a bit more.

~~~~  
When Steve returned to the compound almost an hour and a half later, he found Clint waiting for him in his quarters, lounging on his bead and throwing a bouncy ball at the ceiling. It looked like he had been there for a while. “Welcome back, ya big jerk.”

He supposed he deserved that. Actually, he supposed he deserved a hell of a lot worse, and especially from Clint. He set his water bottle on the dresser. “So how upset with me is she?”

“From you hitting her? I don’t think the shock has worn off yet. Now she’s pretty damn upset about you avoiding her lately. You wanna explain what the hell that is all about? You know it’s gotta do shit to a woman’s self-esteem when she admits to loving you and you go on to act like a deer caught in the headlights whenever she’s around.”

Steve sighed, running his hand through his hair and then down over his face. “I’m not trying to avoid her. I just… I keep getting nervous. I still see her as my best friend. The one from before the war, where any thoughts I had of being with her had to be kept under lock and key or else we both ended up with our asses kicked. Or worse.”

“But you’re not in that time period anymore, Steve. It’s not illegal to be with a man now. Hell, most places even encourage it.” He chuckled at Steve’s flush. “But that’s not even the point. She’s not a man at the moment. So, what’s really dogging you?”

“Look, why are you so interested? You and she seemed pretty damn close this morning in the kitchen anyway.” He grabbed a fresh shirt and pair of sweats from his closet and stormed over to the bathroom to freshen up and change.

“Oh my god, you really are an idiot, Rogers. She’s my friend. I care about her. She’s like that…annoying little sister that you never wanted but would do whatever it takes to protect her. What you saw in the kitchen was a friend comforting a friend because their other friend is being a complete jackass about revealing what his true feelings are. There’s no reason to be jealous.”

Steve’s silence told Clint that he had hit the nail on the head when he called out his jealousy. He shook his head and hefted himself off the bed, the bouncy ball placed on top of Steve’s dresser where he’d found it. “Look, Rogers. If you’re not going to take care of her, you need to tell her, so she’ll stop setting herself up to get hurt. You of all people should know that after everything she’s been through, she doesn’t deserve anymore torture.”

He left the room then without another word, leaving Steve to rest his forehead against the bathroom door. He knew that Clint was right, and god, how he hated that he was the one that was putting Bucky through so much pain. He tossed his clean shirt onto the sink where his sweats were already laying before pulling his current shirt off and over his head. He flicked it out, the fabric landing just to the right of his hamper… and if that wasn’t a metaphor for how his life was going at the moment, he didn’t know what was.

“…How do I tell her I’m still a virgin without having her laugh in my face about it?” he muttered, seemingly to himself as he shucked his sweats and boxers so that he could climb into the shower. Maybe the hot water would ease the pounding in his head.

“You could say something along the lines of “Hey buck, I’ve never gotten laid before, wanna be my first?” Bucky stood by the hamper, dropping the dirty shirt into it. Her hair was down, mostly to hide the bruise on her upper cheek, but she still wore the tank top and skirt she had on that morning… only now that she was standing only a few feet from him, and he wasn’t blinded by his jealousy, did Steve notice that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

Okay, maybe he’d need to opt for a cold shower instead….


	5. ClinTasha to the rescue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky confronts Steve about the situation in the kitchen, and somehow walks out with a date planned for the same evening.
> 
> Clint and Natasha step in to make sure their friends are more than ready to get this show on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has taken me SO long to get up and I apologize! I blame my Tony muse. He ran away laughing while flinging blueberries at me. -__-
> 
> Anywhosen, this is more than likely going to end up being MORE than 10 chapters. (Yay?) And I hope to have more regularly scheduled updates.
> 
> Also, not yet beta read, so all mistakes are my own. ♥

“Hey…” Great opener, Steve. He rolled his eyes slightly—mentally of course—before having the decency to grab a towel and wind it around his waist. Despite Bucky’s snort of amusement, he still felt it necessary to maintain his morals…

Even though they were dangerously close to flying out the window the longer that he continued to stare at her near perfect form. To hell with ‘near’. Bucky had always been perfect to him. Why had it taken him so long to figure that out? God, he felt like a damned idiot.

And currently, Bucky was staring at him like he was one. He could see the hint of the bruise that he’d left behind on her cheek and the knowledge that it had come from his hand made him want to lose what little breakfast he’d managed to choke down that morning while out on his run.

“You gonna say something else or just leave it at ‘Hey’?” She quirked an eyebrow with her question.

Right, she had been waiting on him to say something. Think, Rogers, think! Say something clever…

“Did you need the shower?” He sighed inwardly. He really was a virgin in the ways of women…or love in general.

Though, his response seemed to make her smile, at the very least. She shook her head but stepped toward the bathroom door just the same. “No, I came because Barton wanted me to talk to you. Apparently, I’ve been ‘moping’ and it was starting to get to ‘kicked puppy’ levels.”

“You only came because of Barton?” His brow furrowed slightly. He didn’t know why that stung so much.

Bucky paused, the corner of her lips twitching up in a slight smirk. “Just so you know, Steve, Barton has never made me come.” Her smirk widened when she saw how red Steve’s face was turning as he processed just what she had said. “I actually did want to talk to you. I…I think we need to talk about what happened this morning.”

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, his breath catching when he found her standing but a few inches from him when he opened them again. “Just let me get dressed first…”

“Why?” She raised an eyebrow, taking another step forward, which caused Steve to instinctively step backward. They continued this little dance until Steve’s back end was pressed against the sink counter.

“B-Because…” He swallowed hard enough to have his throat clicking. Bucky was standing so close to him now that he could smell the sweet scent of her shampoo mixed with the sultry, smoky scent that was signature of Bucky herself, no matter what form she was in. His fingers itched to reach out and run through her hair, to grasp the back of her head and pull her into a deep, passionate kiss that would leave them both breathless and panting for much needed air…

“I can’t, Bucky…” His voice came out strained, raw and broken sounding. He noticed the shift in her gaze; it went from confusion to hurt, to a flash of anger before it neutralized itself into her typical stony expression. She started to step back, but he reached out, fingers grasping her left wrist in the same gentle way he longed to grasp her cheek as he kissed her. “I want to, believe me… but I can’t… not like this.”  
“Not like what, Steve?” At the very least, she was giving him the benefit of the doubt, which he appreciated far more than he could ever openly express. 

“Like… Geez, Buck, you know the world we grew up in. I want to take you out on a proper date, with flowers and candy and moonlit walks. I want to kiss you at the door, not when I’m stark nude in the bathroom, trying to ignore just how hard you’re making me. I want to treat you right, if you’ll give me the chance…”

He waited on baited breath for Bucky’s reaction to what he’d just blurted out. Whatever he was expecting, it certainly wasn’t for Bucky to shift forward and brush her lips across his right cheekbone. “If you wanted to ask me on a date, Steve… you should have just said so. I’ll be ready at seven.” With a wink, she pulled away from him and gave his nose a single tap with her index finger. “Don’t do anything stupid until then.”

He was smart enough to hold back his typical reply as he stood there in the bathroom, cheeks painted red and mouth slack as he watched her walk out of his quarters. Somehow… Somehow, he had managed to get a date. Maybe he wasn’t as bad at this love thing as he originally thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Or, maybe he was. He stood in his quarters, in front of what used to be his bed, but was currently housing just about every piece of clothing that he owned. Somewhere beneath the pile of fabric, a slender hand slithered out, making Steve nearly jump out of his star-spangled boxers.

“Natasha…” Steve sighed when he heard the familiar snickering coming from underneath the mountain of laundry. “What the hell are you doing in my bed?”

“Ooh, language, Captain.” She sat up, letting the clothing fall around her like a brightly colored snow storm. “I thought you might could use some help getting ready for your date, since you have to meet Bucky in, oh, fifteen minutes.”

“WHAT?!” He whipped around, staring wide-eyed at his clock… which had stopped working… about four hours ago. “Oh god da—”

“Language~” She grinned, teasing him with a sing-song tone to her voice. He glared at her, but it didn’t hold much heat to it. Mainly because he needed her help… and badly.

“What do I wear?” He finally asked, his own tone exasperated.

“Hm… Well, you know she likes your old uniform… Ack!” She laughed when she was met with a pillow to the head. “Fine, fine! Maybe the second date…” The second pillow she managed to dodge before it could connect. She slithered over the bed, picking up one of Steve’s nicer pair of black jeans and held them out for him. She then found a dark navy pullover sweater and a grey t-shirt that she knew Bucky happened to adore when Steve wore because it hugged every curve of his muscles. She handed them both to him. “Get dressed and don’t put any of that weird gel stuff in your hair. It’s sticky and just makes you look like you went for a swim.”

Steve stared down at the garments he’d been handed. It was such a simple choice, but it felt as if he’d been standing there, sifting through clothes for an hour and unable to find anything suitable to wear. Granted, he doubted Bucky would really care… after all, she’d seen him in worse – and more compromising – positions before.

“Thanks, Nat.” He offered her a genuine smile before he headed to the bathroom to get changed. Maybe if he hurried he would only be what he had heard of as ‘fashionably late’ and Bucky wouldn’t hate him too badly…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Across the compound, Bucky was facing a very similar conversation with Clint. He was seated in the center of her bed, arms folded behind his head and legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles. She stood in the doorway of her closet, stripped down to a matching, deep burgundy lingerie set that was trimmed in black lace. Clint may have been able to appreciate the beauty that was her female form, but his romantic attentions were currently centered elsewhere. With the deeply rooted friendship that he had formed with the former Winter Soldier, he assumed that was why she had all but drug him from his quarters and up to hers, demanding that he help her get ready for her date.

A date that Clint still wasn’t very happy that she was going on. Sure, he was good friends with Steve, and he wanted the both of his friends to be happy, but he had spent the past thirty minutes watching Bucky put on makeup in the mirror to try and cover the bruise that said Captain had given her the morning prior. It was still pissing him off that Bucky had forgiven him so easily.

“You know, you’re gonna look good in anything that you put on.” He offered, and chuckled when he was rewarded with her flipping him off from behind the closet door. “I mean it, Buck. Cap’s gonna be floored merely because you showed up. You could show up wearing a trash bag and clogs and he’d still have stars in his eyes.

“Grow up, Barton…” She muttered as she dropped the load of clothes that she’d tugged from her closet out onto the foot of her bed. Natasha had taken the liberty of filling her closet when she wasn’t looking, and now she had literally no idea what the hell was even in it. She did notice that all of her old clothes had mysteriously gone missing…

“I don’t like that you’re going out with him after what he did to you.” When she glared at him, he held both hands up. “I’m sorry, sugar, but if a guy I was sweet on backhanded me for touching him, I don’t think I’d be so eager to go out on a date with him the following night.”

“…He didn’t do it on purpose. He was just in a bad mood.”

“And now it sounds like you’re covering for some kind of abusive, jealous boyfriend.” He scooted to the edge of the bed and took her right hand in his. “Buck, look at me.” He waited until he had her full attention before continuing. “You and I both know that he’s a good guy, with a good heart, and that everyone has bad days. But just because you’re in love with him does not mean that you need to forgive him for hurting you, emotionally or physically, so quickly. You’re allowed to be upset, too.”

She offered him a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “There’s….there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to waste time with trivial disagreements. We’ve lost each other so often that now that we’re getting this chance, I don’t want to be the reason that it falls through. And I don’t care if I have to stay stuck in this female body for the rest of my days, I just want to know what it’s like to be truly, honestly happy for once in my life. A chance to be next to the man that I love and not have to hide under the guise that we’re only best friends, with my arm around a nameless woman, or watching him fall in love with someone other than myself. Even if it’s temporary, I want to know what it feels like to be the center of Steve Roger’s world.”

“……” Clint sighed before standing and tugging Bucky forward, into his arms. Considering he was fully dressed and she in just her bra and panties, it would have looked incredibly awkward to anyone that happened to pass by Bucky’s quarters. “Listen to me. If he hurts you, even does so much as make you feel uncomfortable, I am taking that shield of his and giving him an all-American enema. Understand me?” He brushed his thumbs along her cheeks as he cupped her face, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “He best take care of you if he knows what’s good for him.”

“Yes, big brother.” She teased, her smile widening when Clint started to laugh. “Hey now, you’re the older one of us… technically… oh shut up.” He gently pushed her away and toward the closet. “Pick out something to wear while I hit the john.”

Bucky sighed, turning her attention back toward the pile of clothes. She sifted through the various outfits, looking for something that would not only be comfortable, but would turn the Captain’s head. She wanted to make a good impression, because she wasn’t terribly sure if she would ever get this chance again. She was going to make the most of the one she’d been given.

When Clint returned from the bathroom, the tune he had been whistling to himself died in his throat. Bucky had chosen a black, asymmetrical skirt with the slit ending just at mid-thigh on the left side. A burgundy, one sleeved top hid her bionic arm from view, but did a marvelous job of accenting her newly acquired chest. Her mocha brown hair was piled atop her head in a sophisticated but somewhat messy bun, held together with a butterfly pin that Wanda had provided. A pair of black, six-inch heels returned Bucky to somewhere closer to her former height.

“….God damn. Who would’ve thought I’d ever be jealous of Captain America.”


	6. Star-Spangled Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short fluffy chapter describing Cap and Bucky's first date~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in updates!!! School was kicking my ass, and my Tony muse was demanding I pay attention to the WinterIron ship too. He's a fussy little muse.
> 
> I will try to have more regularly scheduled updates!

Steve ended up having to run to get down to the lab, where he had been told to meet Bucky for their date. Tony was lending them one of his cars, but he had made sure to let Steve know that any damage done to his precious baby would be taken out of his hide, tenfold. His chest was heaving, temples damp with sweat as he had literally run down he couldn’t remember how many stairs, but he had skidded to a stop a few feet before the lab’s entrance to try and compose himself so that he didn’t look as desperate when he entered. Well, at least he hoped he didn’t look desperate.

The rest of the lab was empty, but the lights clicked on one by one as soon as he passed through the doors. He looked around, baby blue gaze searching for any sign of non-artificial life. He could swear he felt his breath catching in his throat the moment he saw Bucky standing near one of the tables, metal fingertips tapping along the edge, as if caught in her memories of a harsher time.

“Bucky?” His tone was almost reminiscent of when he had met her on that bridge those few years ago. It wasn’t that long ago, but yet, it felt like centuries. 

“Who the hell is Bucky?” She replied with a teasing tone to her voice. She turned when she said her name, head tilting to the side. Her gaze shamelessly slid up and down the Captain’s form, taking in his outfit in all it’s splendor. “…Well, who would’ve thought it, Stevie… you clean up good.”

“…Well.”

“What?” Her brow creased in confusion.

“The…correct word is… ‘Well’…”

“….Did you just correct my grammar on our first date?”

“….No?” He looked ready to panic. It had been a reflex! He spent so much time correcting Tony’s grammar and language out of instinct that he hadn’t even realized he’d done so now. He just knew he was going to fuck this up one way or another, he just didn’t think it would be before they even got to the car…

His battle with his inner demons must’ve been amusing to Bucky, or at least, the change in his facial expressions due to said battle were amusing because Bucky was smiling as she made her way over to him. The clicking of her heels on the tile floor echoed around them, drowned out only by the beating of his own heart in his ears. When she placed her hand on his cheek, thumb caressing the apple, he finally remembered to take a breath.

“You are such a little punk, even now.” She gave him a sharp tap to the cheek before she dropped her hand. “Did you have a plan of where we are going for our date, or are you going to improvise in true Captain America fashion?”

He was blushing, yet again. She had caught him—he hadn’t thought of anything fancy, or romantic, to do with her. All that he could think of right now was getting her into the car…perhaps the back seat…no! No, he wouldn’t treat her like some cheap whore. She deserved better than that. She deserved… everything that he could possibly give to her.

“…Stevie?” She waved a hand in front of his face, and his flush grew a few shades darker. He must’ve been taking too long to just stare at her, but judging by the way she was smiling, she wasn’t complaining about the fact. 

“Um…it’s a surprise.” Yeah, improvise. That always worked for him in the past. Hopefully he wouldn’t find the need to jump out of any elevators this time around.

“Alright then,” she smiled and looped her hand beneath his elbow to lay on his forearm, and he was glad that she didn’t question him. He wouldn’t have had a detailed answer to provide to her if she had. “Shall we go?”

He chuckled softly, leading her toward the garage, and to the cherry red hot rod that Tony was allowing them to borrow for the evening. He opened the door for Bucky and helped her get in, adverting his gaze when her skirt rode up her thighs in the process. Once she was buckled in and settled, he headed around the front of the car and slid into the driver’s seat. 

“Ready?” He looked over to her with a smile, and the one that she returned to him was enough to make his insides quiver. 

“Ready.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky was surprised to find that the ‘surprise’ that Steve had been talking about ended up consisting of the two of them getting hot dogs from a similar vendor to the one they used to go to as kids, and walking through the park beneath the stars, to finally come to a soft, grassy spot that they could sit and enjoy both their food, and the sounds of an acoustic band that was playing near a large water fountain. Steve had kept asking her if things were okay, if she would have rather gone somewhere fancier because of how she was dressed, but she had shaken her head, kicked off her heels, and walked barefoot through the grass while holding her shoes with one hand and his arm with the other. She had even taken her hair down, attaching the butterfly pin to her top instead, so that she could remember to return it to Wanda in the morning.

Currently, she was laying on her back, legs crossed at the ankle and stretched out before her, her head laying across Steve’s lap as he run his fingers through her hair. They had spent the last half hour listening to the band play and swapping stories about what it would have been like for them growing up if Bucky had been born female. Needless to say, Steve blushed bright red when Bucky told him in no uncertain terms that he would have lost his virginity a lot sooner than he actually had, had she been born female instead of male. Neither of them thought that HYDRA would have turned her into the Winter Soldier, either, and Bucky wasn’t sure if she felt more relief or agitation at that thought.

“Stevie?” She called for his attention during one of the band’s short breaks. When he looked down at her, she reached up and traced her left index finger along his lower lip, relishing in the way that she was able to make him blush. “Would you have ever asked me out on a date if I wasn’t female?” It was the question that had been haunting her since he had agreed to the date. His hesitance wasn’t helping to ease her nerves any.

“….I think that eventually, yes, I would have. I know that things are different now, things are more widely accepted, but… but there are times where I still fear that there would be backlash for the things that I would like to do. One of which being kissing you, while you were a man.”

“Would you still have wanted to take me out on a date like this, before you did so much as even kiss me?”

“Yes, yes I would have.” He chuckled. “Just because you’re strong enough to throw me over your head when you’re in your normal body, it doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t want to treat you with love and respect. Just like anyone should be treated in a relationship.”

“You keep forgetting that we tried to kill each other multiple times throughout our lives. The old saying ‘Til the end of the line’ was really put to the test there a few times.”

“And each time we pushed through whatever the hell it was that was threatening to pull us apart.” He moved his hand from her hair, brushing his fingertips along the apple of her cheek, where he knew the makeup was covering the bruise that he had left on her. “And we will continue to push through whatever is thrown at us.”

Bucky smiled slowly, her hand coming up to lay overtop his. She stared up at him, searching his face for any sign of hesitance, before she leaned in and let her lips brush against his. It was a soft, almost shy kiss, but one that Steve fully melted into. When she went to pull away, he cupped the back of her head and pulled her in close again, his other hand braced upon the small of her back. She found herself smiling, lost to everything and everyone around them, while six little words played over and over in her head.

‘Til the end of the line.’

**Author's Note:**

> I -hope- to have weekly updates! Leave me some love if you enjoy~ Comments and criticisms are always welcome.


End file.
